“But they need to go that step further..”
With what the Alliance Party leader David Ford called an “unhelpful statement” from the Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward, in the public domain, and the reported background pressure from various quarters, Brian Rowan, in the Sunday Life, noted the gap between what had been required and what had been stated. The BBC does a round-up of the positions as stated on this morning’s Politics Show.. but, along with the UPRG’s Frankie Gallagher making compariosns which echo Jackie McDonald’s previous statements, there’s a starker statement from the Social Development minister in this RTÉ report [RealPlayer file]
“My deadline still stands. I have, in many ways, moved the UDA to actual discussions with de Chastelain and that is something I welcome. But they need to go that step further. And there’s still some days to go to the deadline. The deadline is still in place.”
Shaun Woodward plutocrat.
So, the UDA are going to stick to their own timetable.
What timetable? Are they willing to share it with us?
Years ago they said they would get rid of their arms once the IRA ditched theirs. It’s a long time now since the IRA disarmed.
Can the UDA tell us why they need arms right now.
Who do they anticipate using them against?
Backs of policemen or someone else?
What do their apologists have to say on the subject?
Does anyone know what happened to the Carrickfergus policeman.
Did he make a full recovery?
Physically?
Mentally?
I sure hope so.
JoeC i agree with your highlighting of the policeman in Carrickfergus.
Margaret Ritchie will certainly need alot of support when the sh!t hits the fan, that much is given. But what makes this one actually winnable for her in the face of all the NIO/SF/DUP/UUP political backstabbing is that the neanderthals actually allowed one of their hothead knuckle scrapers to pop off a couple of rounds and hit a cop in the back!!
Now the NIO are arrogant at the best of times in terms of what they can achieve in the ‘media’ but surely this one is too much even for them to pin blame on Ritchie.
They would do well to remember that there is such a thing as a baseline of morality that people in Northern Ireland will not stoop below.
Hogan:
“the neanderthals actually allowed one of their hothead knuckle scrapers to pop off a couple of rounds and hit a cop in the back!!”
Ah, but that was the ‘Bad UDA’, don’t you see?
Although the narrative has since evolved further with the apparent emergence of a third party (the ‘Ugly UDA!?’):
No ‘feud’ in Carrick says McDonald
The UDA does not believe problems in south-east Antrim amount to a feud.
Jackie McDonald claimed the situation in the Carrickfergus area is about a rogue element of criminals opposed to UDA moves towards normality and community-based activity.
He claimed they were stoking up trouble to scupper the CTI funding.
And he played down differences with Tommy Kirkham’s Beyond Conflict group, also distancing it from a “third party†element in the area.
“I do not accept it’s a feud,†he argued.
“It’s complex. This began when senior figures and members of the UPRG went to Larne (where Ihab Shoukri has been based) and made a very public statement to condemn criminality and gangsterism in the area.â€
He confirmed he and others have spoken to Mr Kirkham face-to-face. “We had assurances from people in south east Antrim that there was a rogue element there and they (Beyond Conflict) had washed their hands of it.
“That third party, with most to lose, would do what it took to stop the UDA and loyalism moving away from the past and the criminal elements,†said McDonald.
ian (quoting someone): “No ‘feud’ in Carrick says McDonald
The UDA does not believe problems in south-east Antrim amount to a feud.
Jackie McDonald claimed the situation in the Carrickfergus area is about a rogue element of criminals opposed to UDA moves towards normality and community-based activity. ”
Reminds me of the old CIA joke that three reorganizations amount to one coup… what it is doesn’t matter as much as what we call it.
As I’ve stated elsewhere, the UDA’s internal delusions should be of little interest to the outside observer. That and J-Mack’s definition of “mormality and community-based activity” may not mean the same thing as it would to the rest of us — i.e. normally, their activity is community-based — UDA sets are only allowed to shake-down businesses on their patch of turf.
” ian (quoting someone): “No ‘feud’ in Carrick says McDonald ”
Sorry, I meant to add the source of that article – Belfast Newsletter, last week (after the latest spate of pipebombings in Carrickfergus) – but clicked ‘Submit’ before I remembered.